


talisman

by fanfoolishness (LoonyLupin), LoonyLupin



Series: The Outer Rim [30]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:28:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28889112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/fanfoolishness, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/LoonyLupin
Summary: Cara reaches out to a friend when she suspects he needs to talk.  Set likely several months after The Rescue.
Relationships: Din Djarin & Cara Dune, Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda
Series: The Outer Rim [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055645
Comments: 16
Kudos: 92





	talisman

She doesn’t ask him about it, at first. Figures there’s something to it, the way the Mandalorian’s fingers brush against his belt now and then, flicking open the flap of a belt pouch, touching something inside before closing it up again. Maybe he’s checking for ammo. Maybe it’s a thought, interrupted. But one thing about it makes Cara uneasy. He never had this tic before he lost the kid.

* * *

She catches him outside on the streets of Nevarro one day, waiting to rendezvous with her and Greef. He leans against one of the new prefabs, and she sees it in his hand -- a silver ball, gleaming in the harsh afternoon light. But when she greets him, he slips it away back inside his belt without a word.

He touches the pouch eight times on their mission.

* * *

Three sickle moons hang high overhead. He’s got a bounty contract with the New Republic, and she’s along in case they can bring them in alive. (He’s good enough that they usually can.) 

She gets back from the market with fresh supplies and finds him sitting beside the fire. The silver ball in his hand catches the firelight. His helmet sits between his boots, the way the kid used to.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hey,” he says.

“You gonna tell me what that is?”

Nightbirds call in the dark beyond the fire, and the spring breeze on her face is chilly, whipping their hair. His falls into his eyes, shadowing them, but he does not brush it away. 

She waits, knowing it doesn’t come easy for either of them. 

Din chuckles at last, a raspy sound. “It’s a lever knob. From the _Razor Crest.”_

_“_ She was a good ship,” says Cara, but she settles on the log across from him. She leans in to warm her hands. 

There’s more to it, of course. She’s not great at talking things out, but Din Djarin’s a good friend, and she senses this is long overdue. “I don’t think that’s why you kept it, though,” she says, and the words hang there, an invitation.

“No.” He rolls it between gloved fingertips. It flashes white, orange, yellow in the firelight. Din’s face breaks into an awkward smile. He’s getting better at them, she thinks. “It was -- Grogu loved playing with it. Drove me crazy.” Another low chuckle. “I should have gotten him toys. But I wonder, sometimes, if he liked it because --” A long, low breath, eyes falling closed, mouth quirking to the side. “Because he knew it got a rise out of me.”

Cara gazes into the flames. She suspected something like this. The confirmation makes her eyes sting, or perhaps it’s the smoke. “He always wanted your attention, you know.”

Din nods. A muscle in his cheek twitches, and the water in his eyes flickers, reflecting white and orange and yellow. “I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just love their brother and sister vibe okay?????


End file.
